Alakazam the Great

I saw Alakazam first when I was quite young. I thought it was a good cartoon then and like it more now. It has a good moral to it and it's not made to sell toys like most cartoons are made to do now. Comparing it to todays cartoons is a bit silly since it was made over 40 years ago, the themes and characters are much different then the standard anime fluff we see now. I can't see anyone going wrong renting it and watching it with their family.

I loved this movie in the 1960's when it used to play regularly on a television channel in Buffalo, New York. What a shock when I saw it recently! The dubbed American version is disjointed and pretty silly, but that's not the big surprise. It is clear from watching it now that the Japanese film underlying it is a retelling of part of the epic Chinese classic, The Journey to the West, written by Wu Cheng-En in the 16th century. In The Journey to the West -- the standard English translation is by Arthur Waley -- the monk Tripitaka is travelling to India seeking rare Buddhist scriptures, which were later housed in the Big Goose Pagoda still standing today in Xi'an, a city best-known to Westerners for its terracotta warriors. The monk has many adventures along the way, accompanied by his friends Sun Wu-Kong / Monkey (here called Alakazam) and Chu Pa-Kie / Pigsy. Throughout the Far East, these characters are known to everyone and are fixtures of popular culture. Hot-tempered, impetuous Monkey / Alakazam is the particular favourite of little boys of all ages. Watch this movie and try to guess what is actually going on in the Japanese film.

Over the years, I have seen many reviews that have mercilessly slagged ALAKAZAM THE GREAT as a bad movie, and it even made it into the highly questionable book THE 50 WORST FILMS OF ALL TIME. The question I have is: did all of you who hate this movie see the same film that I did when I was a youngster? I have shown many children this film over the years and not one of them failed to enjoy it.

ALAKAZAM THE GREAT is loosely based on the Wu Cheng-En classic JOURNEY TO THE WEST, a landmark of Chinese epic literature, and tells the story of an arrogant monkey king who learns the secrets of magic and becomes a cosmic pain in the ass. After a brief rampage through the heavens, he is imprisoned by the gods and eventually sent on a pilgrimage to atone for his sins and learn humility. The monkey must escort a young prince (who is the son of the gods) through a series of insanely lethal adventures in a land teeming with demons and monsters of every description, picking up a couple of unusual traveling companions along the way (an anthropomorphic pig-man and a burrowing cannibal). Much magic and cartoon ass-whuppin' ensues, and despite the (mercifully brief) musical numbers, this film has raw imagination to spare. Fast-paced and fun, this is not the dud that some would lead you to believe. Give it a chance!

Like others on this site, I have warm memories of this film, having watched it since I was a child. American International did a fine job, in my opinion, of dubbing the picture. What makes their version of "Alakazam The Great" for me though, is the truly beautiful score by Les Baxter (an AIP regular) which perfectly complimented the visuals. A soundtrack album was released back in '61, which I found 35 years ago--at a thrift shop in excellent condition. HBO video released a widescreen videotape of the film about 10 years ago. They did a great job--wonderful picture and sound. Alas, it went out of print when the AIP package changed hands. MGM (now Sony) holds the rights. Hopefully, one day, they will release a DVD.

I was stunned to see this listing; I have been trying to find this movie for years. It may be lame, a terrible dubbed version of a chopped up hack job, but I still have dreams based on this film 30 years later. It would show up on the afternoon movie program and I would always greet it like an old friend; I would love to see it again.